


When John got Sick

by Maimat



Series: Always Something [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 04:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1731353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maimat/pseuds/Maimat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Sunday.  John has the flu.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When John got Sick

Sunday. John lay on the couch, sleeping.

Boring. 

Sherlock worked in the kitchen glad for the reprieve of John's watchful eye and insistence that corrosive and poisonous substances should not be placed on the counter alongside the spices. With John sleeping, so dull, Sherlock was free to spread out his equipment as he deemed necessary across the table and the counter and where ever was most advantageous to place it. It was the ideal situation for a Sunday.

Until John made a thumping noise, inadvertently knocked a pile of books off the coffee table, and sprinted down the hall. Bathroom of course. Too easy. Would it be too much to ask for John to do something out of the ordinary?

The noises coming from the bathroom were however slightly more interesting. John was currently being violently ill. Sherlock spared a thought to hope he'd made it to the toilet in time.

This was different. Welcome? No. Distracting, maybe.

Nausea, fatigue. Onset sudden? Sort of, John had been lagging behind the last couple of days but that was common.. He placed the items he'd been using at the side and followed John down the hall to stand at the open door. John was on his knees, head over toilet, right arm clutching his abdomen, left arm gripping the toilet rim. Sherlock took a bit of a step closer and peered inside. No blood. He looked at John. Sweating. Dizziness. He quickly swept a hand over John's forehead. Fever. Slight crinkling of stress-lines between the eyes, headache. Movements stiff, joint pain.

Probably cause. Viral Gastroenteritis. Influenza.

Less probably, though possible...

Heart attack? Sherlock leaned forward and placed a hand gently on John's carotid artery. Heart beat rapid. Not irregular. Breathing? A little out of breath, but within normal parameters for having just run to the bathroom and getting sick. No indication of accompanying chest pain. No.

Appendicitis? Abdominal pain? Yes. Constipation? John had taken the news paper into the washroom with him that morning and had emerged five minutes after. No.

Food poisoning? Based on the contents of the kitchen and Sherlock's more recent experiments, possible. Sudden onset? Yes. Abdominal pain? Yes. Last night's supper? They'd eaten out at the fish and chips take out, they had eaten from the same basket. Sherlock felt fine. Not the fish and chips. Kitchen? John had not been hungry and only made tea. Sherlock had also had a cup. Not food poisoning.

Yes. Viral Gastroenteritis or flu.

John reached forward and flushed the toilet. He coughed, and spat into the swirling water.

Sherlock stayed in the hall, observing. He debated whether or not he should keep his distance. What were the social norms of cohabitation in these circumstances? It was a disagreeable situation for all parties concerned, but Sherlock suspected if he were the one to be sick, John would not hesitate to take care of his needs. The last time Sherlock succumbed to the flu he'd been living on his own and when Mycroft discovered Sherlock was ill, Mycroft sent a nurse named Bruce.

Sherlock briefly considered having Mycroft to send a nurse for John. Nurse Bruce hadn't been much use when Sherlock had been ill. There was also the fact that Nurse Bruce had removed his shoes and socks and his feet had smelled like old cheese which had induced extra vomiting. That was not an experience he wished to revisit.

Sherlock could do this. He could do this for John. What had the nurse done? Sherlock couldn't remember. He'd been sleeping most of the time. Nurse Bruce had sat on the chair, tapping away at his phone. And he'd brought him water. And a mixing bowl just in case he couldn't make it to the bathroom on time. Nurse Bruce hadn't emptied the bowl. Sherlock decided ahead of time that the mixing bowl would be emptied and cleaned as necessary, and because he cared about John, he would do it for him.

Sherlock left and brought back a glass of water. John was sitting again. He passed John the glass, which John accepted and took a tentative sip.

"Couch." Sherlock reached down and placed the water glass on the counter and helped pull John upright.

"I might-"

"I will bring you a mixing bowl." Sherlock answered. He helped steer John back to the living room and to the couch. John laid down and Sherlock placed a mixing bowl beside him and then retrieved the water glass and placed that beside him as well.

He held up a thermometer and handed that to John as well.

John looked at it. "Is this the same one that was in the fridge? It was in the jar of whatever that was."

"Toes. They have to be kept at a certain temperature. Put this under your tongue."

"No."

"I sanitized it." Sherlock assured him.

"No." John said firmly.

Sherlock sighed. "Don't be tedious. How do doctors ever deal with the living?"

"There's a clean thermometer in the first aid box in the closet."

"This is the clean thermometer from the first aid box in the closest." Sherlock answered. "I did sanitize it. I do know how to do these things." He emphatically gestured towards the kitchen table. "Your illness is already inconvenient. Why would I want to jeopardize your recovery?"

John grabbed it and stuffed it in his mouth.

They waited. Sherlock plucked it out at the appointed time and held it gingerly between two fingers. "Thirty nine point three." He stared at it, and then at John. "That's too high. What now?"

"Nothing. I just need to sleep."

Sherlock made a face. "You have the flu."

"Yes, I know. Thanks."

Sherlock took the thermometer and very carefully took it to the kitchen and placed it in a glass so that he could deal with sanitizing it later, and returned to John. He pushed the water glass closer. "Drink, or you will get dehydrated."

"I'll throw up again."

Sherlock sighed and sat on the coffee table, watching John intently while John tried and failed to glare back at him. "What do you want?" John asked.

"This is the extent of my knowledge on what to do for someone sick with flu. It would be useful to know exactly which strain you are suffering from in order to more accurately. I was under the impression you'd had the flu shot. Of course the vaccination only covers certain strains of the flu and in your clinic I am sure you have come into contact with more than enough varieties to make it probably that one of them were not in the list of one's covered. And that is only if it is indeed influenza rather than viral gastroenteritis. We could do further testing..."

"What do you want, Sherlock?"

"I am waiting for you to tell me what to do."

"Everything you have already done is fine. Please just let me sleep."

"Oh." He stood up and took a couple of steps away before turning back. "I will be in the kitchen. If you need something, just shout." He returned to the kitchen, sat down and leaned over to look at the couch again. John appeared to be sleeping. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving, and yes he was breathing. That was good. He turned back to his equipment. Would John actually call him if he needed something? Sherlock remembered being angry that Mycroft sent the nurse, as it had insinuated that Mycroft did not believe that Sherlock could not take care of himself.

Did John feel the same way? Was he irritated that Sherlock was taking care of him?

He stood up and went back to the living room and sat on the coffee table again. "John."

John opened his eyes.

"You will tell me? If you need something?"

"Let me sleep."

"But, if I can do something for you, I will."

John groaned, rolled over slightly and then tensed. "Bowl."

Sherlock scooped up the mixing bowl and shoved it in John's direction just in time. It was an awkward position, for John, being laying on his side and propped up on one arm, so Sherlock moved to the side and helped pull John up so that he could at least be sitting. Once the round of vomiting had finished, Sherlock moved the bowl aside and eased John back down. Oh, and the bowl. He quickly left to empty the bowl.

When he returned John's eyes were closed again. He set he bowl down, made certain the glass of water was within John's reach and went back to the kitchen.

It happened sometimes when Sherlock got engrossed in what he was doing that he lost track of time. He was aware of the flaw but not always able to control it. He studied the thin layer of skin he'd peeled off the cold thumbs in the fridge and the thumbs he'd had hidden behind the crackers in the cupboard and compared the tissues pre and post the introduction of sodium hydroxide. He noted the amount of time the tissue had been submerged and the deterioration...

It was two hours since he'd paid attention to the other room.

He hadn't heard anything. Or at least he hadn't registered hearing anything, that did not mean there hadn't been something to hear.

It was unacceptable. Sherlock decided the skin tissue could keep for another five minutes.

John was still sleeping. The water beside him untouched. The bowl empty. Sherlock stepped closer. "John?" Yes, John was still breathing.

"John?" He gently prodded John in the shoulder. Nothing.

Unresponsive.

Unresponsive... Sherlock's brain froze at the list of...

And then John grunted and rolled over.

"John. I need to take your temperature." Sherlock said insistently. Finally John opened his eyes. As soon as his mouth opened Sherlock popped in the thermometer. He suspected John had been about to say something along of the lines of leave me alone or get out of my face but neither was relevant to the situation.

At the appropriate time Sherlock removed the device. "Thirty eight point nine." he read aloud and like last time though the information seemed significant he wasn't exactly certain what to do about it. Sherlock picked up the water glass. "Drink."

John sighed and sat up. He drank.

"Would you like me to have Mrs. Hudson to make us some soup?"

"No."

Sherlock considered. "You should eat."

"No. I should sleep." John lied back down. "Go away."

Sherlock backed up and sat in his chair. He knew John didn't really mean what he said, John was miserable, and people who feel miserable say miserable things.

"Are you bored?"

"I'm tired."

"Being sick is boring." Sherlock returned to his experiment in the kitchen. He was reasonably certain that John would fully recover with proper rest. Until then, he would continue his ministrations and help John feel better. He glanced at the clock and set his mind that he would check on John in half an hour, that should give John enough time to sleep and feel well enough to listen to Sherlock explain the results of his base temperature of deceased tissue exposed to sodium hydroxide experiment.

Altogether, not a bad Sunday.


End file.
